Dec. 5, 2015
Santa Clara, Calif. --- Frank Rogers cashed a game-tying three with a minute remaining to fully erase a double-digit deficit, but the San José State men's basketball team's late charge fell short against Santa Clara for a 78-75 loss at the Leavey Center.Princeton Onwas went to the line for three free throws after being fouled on a shot from downtown with 10 seconds left. The senior split the first two, and his third attempted was snatched by Rogers under the basket. The ball swung around the outside, making its way back to Onwas as the final seconds ticked down. Onwas had a solid look to tie the game, but the shot did not fall."I told Princeton, don't let that shot affect you," said Spartans' head coach Dave Wojcik. "Princeton did a great job for us down the stretch. It wasn't all about that last shot, it was some of our previous possessions that hurt."The Spartans (4-4) came back from multiple double-digit deficits throughout the game, and Rogers' splash from the top of the arc capped an 11-point comeback, which tied the game 74-74.Nate Kratch scored the final two of his career-high 29 points with a layup on the next SCU possession. After a Spartan miss from deep, Kai Healey put in a pair of free throws to make it 78-74 with 15 seconds left.The Spartan defense limited Santa Clara's leading scorer Jared Brownridge to just four points on 2 of 8 shooting. But Kratch in the low post was the thorn in SJSU's side all night long. He finished the game 13 of 15 from the floor helping the Broncos to a season high in points."We did a great job guarding Brownridge, but there just wasn't a sense of urgency guarding anybody else," Wojcik said. "We wanted those other guys to beat us, but we have to come up with more stops on defense. We scored enough points to win this game."Frank Rogers led the Spartans with 18 points and 13 rebounds. The senior from Salinas, Calif., became the first Spartan with four consecutive double-doubles since Chris Cunningham in the final four games of the 2012-13 season.Rogers also helped erase a nine-point Santa Clara lead in the first half with a burst of six straight points that included two layups and a slam dunk."There were a lot of times we were down in this game but we never counted ourselves out," Rogers said. "It's nice to make these comebacks but if you comeback and then lose it's just not the same. We need to heighten our will to move on from a loss like this."Cody Schwartz found his stroke in the first 20 minutes of the game, knocking down four shots from beyond the arc. He finished with season-best 15 Points. Onwas also finished in double-figures scoring with 11.Next up, San José State travels to Marquette for a 7:00 p.m. CST tip on Tuesday night.
Newspaper Box Score
San José State vs Santa Clara
12/05/15 7 p.m. at Leavey Center
At Leavey Center
SANTA CLARA 78, SAN JOSé STATE 75
SAN JOSé STATE (4-4)
Rogers, Frank 7-12 2-4 18; Schwartz, Cody 4-8 3-3 15; Onwas, Princeton 2-7
7-9 11; Williams, Jr., Gary 1-5 5-6 8; Welage, Ryan 3-8 0-0 8; CLARKE,
Brandon 2-3 2-2 6; Hillsman, Jaycee 2-6 0-0 4; James, Jalen 0-4 3-4 3;
Thornton, Isaac 1-4 0-0 2; Bahner, Leon 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-58 22-28 75.
SANTA CLARA (2-7)
KRATCH, Nate 13-15 3-6 29; FEAGIN, KJ 6-8 2-2 16; HUBBARD, Matt 4-9 2-2 12;
HEALEY, Kai 3-10 2-2 8; NISTLER, Werner 0-2 4-4 4; BROWNRIDGE, Jared 2-8 0-0
4; NDUMANYA, Emmanuel 1-3 1-2 3; HAUSER, Matt 1-3 0-0 2; JADERSTEN, Henrik
0-1 0-0 0. Totals 30-59 14-18 78.
San José State................ 35 40 - 75
Santa Clara................... 42 36 - 78
3-point goals--San José State 9-32 (Schwartz, Cody 4-8; Rogers, Frank 2-4;
Welage, Ryan 2-5; Williams, Jr., Gary 1-3; James, Jalen 0-3; Thornton, Isaac
0-1; Hillsman, Jaycee 0-4; Onwas, Princeton 0-4), Santa Clara 4-11 (FEAGIN,
KJ 2-2; HUBBARD, Matt 2-5; HEALEY, Kai 0-4). Fouled out--San José
State-None, Santa Clara-None. Rebounds--San José State 33 (Rogers, Frank
13), Santa Clara 37 (KRATCH, Nate 12). Assists--San José State 13 (ONWAS,
Princeton 4), Santa Clara 16 (FEAGIN, KJ 5). Total fouls--San José State 17,
Santa Clara 20. Technical fouls--San José State-None, Santa Clara-None.
A-1676